733 
B658655 


Boston 

Public  Library 

South  Boston  Branch 

Proceedings  at  the  Dedication 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


City  Document.-  -No.    70. 


~~ 


PKOCEEDINGS  AT  THE  DEDICATION 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH 


PUBLIC  LIBRARY  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BOSTON,  MAY  16,  1872. 


z 

733 


CITY    OF    BOSTON" 


IN  BOARD  or  ALDERMEN,  June  4,  1872. 
Ordered,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library  cause  to 
be  printed  an  account  of  the  proceedings  at  the  recent  dedi- 
cation of  the  South  Boston  Branch  Library ;  the  expense  to 
be  charged  to  the  appropriation  for  Printing. 
Read  twice  and  passed.     Sent  down  for  concurrence. 
June  6.     Came  up  concurred. 
Approved  by  the  Mayor,  June  7,  1872. 
A  true  copy. 

Attest:  S.  F.  McCLEARY, 

City  Clerk. 


PEOCEEDINGS. 

The  SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH  LIBRARY  had  been  opened 
with  4,350  volumes  on  its  shelves  on  the  1st  of  May,  1872, 
in  the  rooms  provided  in  the  second  story  of  the  new  Savings- 
Bank  Building  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  E  stree.t ; 
when,  on  the  petition  of  various  residents  of  that  section  of 
the  city,  the  Special  Committee  of  the  Trustees  upon  that 
Branch,  consisting  of  the  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  BOARD,  WES- 
TON  LEWIS,  ESQ.,  AND  DR.  SAMUEL  A.  GREEN,  were  in- 
structed to  arrange  for  a  formal  dedication  of  the  new  insti- 
tution ;  and,  as  the  Library  building  contained  no  suitable 
apartment  for  the  ceremonies,  it  was  determined  to  have 
them  in  WAIT'S  HALL. 


1169647 


4  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 

The  hall  was  promptly  filled  at  the  time  designated,  May 
16th,  at  a  quarter  of  eight  o'clock,  in  response  to  a  public 
notice,  while  the  invited  guests  of  the  Trustees  assembled  in 
an  ante-room.  Previously,  one  hundred  and  sixty  girls  had 
been  arranged  on  the  platform,  under  the  direction  of  MR. 
SHARLAND,  who  had  selected  this  choir  from  the  public 
school  children  of  South  Boston. 

His  Honor,  WM.  GASTON,  Mayor  of  the  city,  took  the 
chair,  and  introduced  the  REV.  E.  K.  ALDEN,  D.D.,  who 
offered  prayer.  The  hymn  "  Father  of  Mercies  "  was  then 
sung  by  the  children. 

The  Mayor  then  said :  —  "I  congratulate  the  people  of 
South  Boston  upon  the  establishment  of  a  Branch  of  the 
Public  Library  within  their  limits.  The  rapid  growth  and 
increasing  prosperity  of  this  section  of  the  city  have  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library 
and  the  City  Council,  and  they  have,  therefore,  recognized 
the  increased  importance  of  placing,  within  your  immediate 
reach,  the  books  of  this  prosperous  and  flourishing  institu- 
tion. The  event  has  been  deemed  of  sufficient  public  im- 
portance to  be  worthy  of  public  notice.  You  have,  there- 
fore, been  invited  to  meet  here  to-night  to  celebrate  the 
opening  of  this  new  Branch  .of  the  Public  Library.  I  think 
that  my  duty  will  be  well  performed  by  introducing  to  you 
the  chosen  gentlemen,  who  have  consented  to  address  you. 
I  have  now  the  pleasure"  of  introducing  to  you  MR.  WIL- 
LIAM W.  GREENOUGH,  the  President  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Public  Library." 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY. 


MR.    GREEHOUGH'S   ADDRESS. 

MR.  MAYOR,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — Through  the  liberal  pro- 
visions of  the  City  Government,  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library 
have  been  enabled  to  open,  in  convenient  apartments,  for  the  use  of  the 
inhabitants  of  South  Boston,  another  Branch  of  the  Library.  From 
the  marked  popularity  enjoyed  by  the  Branch  already  established  at 
East  Boston ,  there  came  abundant  encouragement  for  a  second  experi- 
ment here.  Indeed,  the  circulation  of  books  in  the  "  Island  Ward  "  not 
only  surpassed  expectation,  but  gave  results  not  shown  even  in  the  sta- 
tistics of  the  popular  library  in  Boston  proper,  and  in  one  respect  unpar- 
alleled in  any  circulation  of  which  the  details  have  been  published. 
During  the  year  just  closed,  every  book  in  the  Lower  Hall  in  Boylston 
street  was  issued,  on  the  average,  a  little  over  seven  times  and  a  half; 
and  for  the  same  period  every  book  in  the  East  Boston  Branch  was  issued 
on  the  average,  a  little  more  than  eleven  times.  Still  more  surprising 
is  the  fact,  that,  while  the  losses  at  the  end  of  the  year  for  the  Central 
Library  were  at  the  rate  of  one  volume  for  every  eight  thousand  vol- 
umes loaned,  at  [East  Boston  seventy-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
forty-six  volumes  were  loaned — still  with  no  guaranty — without  a  single 
loss.  Such  an  exemption  from  the  ordinary  experience  of  lending 
libraries,  either  indicates  great  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  officers  of  the 
institution,  or  remarkable  conscientiousness  and  fidelity  on  the  part  of 
borrowers.  As  the  best  motives  ought  naturally  to  be  attributed, 
one  may  hope  that  this  perfect  result  was  mainly  dependent  upon  the 
latter  cause. 

The  history  of  the  Library  now  formally  opened  this  evening  may  be 
related  in  few  words.  By  the  action  of  the  City  Government,  in  Decem- 
ber last,  the  Trustees  were  permitted  to  anticipate  the  appropriation 
available  on  the  1st  of  May,  1872,  so  far  as  to  make,  before  that  date, 
the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  purchase  and  preparation  of  books, 
and  for  the  shelving  and  furniture  of  the  rooms  leased  by  the  city  for  the 
uses  of  the  Library  and  Reading-room.  The  first  and  only  considerable 
donation  of  books  yet  received  was  due  to  the  public  spirit  of  the  Mat- 
tapan  Literary  Association. 

This  well-selected  collection  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees 
in  January,  and  consisted  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy 
volumes,  of  a  miscellaneous  character,  forming  an  excellent  foundation 
upon  which  to  build.  Purchases  were  then  made  to  enlarge  its  various 
departments,  to  fill  gaps,  to  extend  classifications ;  new  books  were 
added  enough  to  make  the  Library  fresh  and  modern,  and  sufficient  for 


6  CITY  DOCUMENT. — No.  70. 

the  present  needs  of  the  population,  so  far  as  generally  known  to  the 
Trustees.  There  will  be  further  additions  from  time  to  time  as  the 
tastes  and  wants  of  your  community  become  apparent.  New  books  of 
popular  interest  will  take  their  place  on  the  shelves  as  fast  as  published. 
By  this  gradual  and  systematic  enlargement,  the  collection  will,  in  time, 
round  itself  to  fill  its  full  sphere  of  usefulness. 

The  books  now  upon  the  shelves  were  removed  to  South  Boston  on 
the  10th  of  April.  The  Reading-room  was  opened  to  the  public  on  the 
22d  of  the  same  month,  and  on  the  first  of  May  the  Library  was  ready 
to  afford  such  circulation  of  its  volumes  as  was  practicable  with  the 
help  of  the  Libi'arian  and  her  assistants,  and  without  the  specific  guiding 
direction  of  a  completed  printed  catalogue.  This  needed  key  to  its  con- 
tents is  now  rapidly  passing  through  the  press,  and  it  will  probably  be 
ready  for  distribution  in  June. 

Since  the  registration  records  were  prepared  for  signature  on  the  22d 
of  April,  more  than  six  hundred  residents,  not  previously  enrolled  at  the 
Centi'al  Library,  have  indicated  a  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  its  privi- 
leges by  complying  with  its  simple  and  liberal  regulations  —  identical 
with  those  which  have  grown  with  the  growth  of  the  Boylston  street 
Library,  and  which  have  made  it  the  freest  and  most  accessible  of  the 
larger  collections  of  books  in  this  country  and  in  Europe ;  a  freedom 
which  every  friend  of  civilization  must- hope  maybe  continued  in  the 
future,  dependent  as  it  is  upon  the  moral  sense  and  due  appreciation  of 
the  community,  which  realizes  that  its  extensive  stores,  as  rich  as  exten- 
sive, are  within  the  ready  reach  of  all  its  members.  There  is  no  mis- 
giving on  the  part  of  the  Trustees  that  the  residents  of  this  district  will 
not  as  heartily  and  faithfully  respond  to  the  trust  reposed  in  them  as 
appears  in  evidence  in  other  portions  of  the  city. 

And  now,  having  shown  how  your  Libi'ary  has  been  formed,  and  what 
the  nature  of  its  increase  may  be  hereafter,  permit  me  to  add  a  few  ob- 
servations upon  the  relations  of  a  public  library  to  its  readers ;  to  show 
what  classes  of  books  one  should  expect  to  find  upon  its  shelves,  and  to 
point  out  also  the  descriptions  of  works  properly  omitted  now,  but  pos- 
sibly to  be  obtained  hereafter  through  the  helpful  generosity  of  the 
benevolent  among  your  own  citizens.  The  considerations  which  natur- 
ally occur  must  necessarily  be  of  the  most  general  character,  growin  g 
out  of  the  experience  and  observation  of  wants  already  made  manifest 
in  kindred  populations,  and  now  applicable  to  the  undeveloped  necessi- 
ties which  a  further  knowledge  of  the  tendencies,  tastes  and  desires  of 
any  special  precinct  may  modify  and  correct. 

Public  libraries,  although  centuries  old  in  idea  and  general  principle, 
have  received  their  principal  impulse  and  developement  during  the  past 
twenty-five  years.  With  the  great  changes  of  the  body  politic  produced 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  7 

during  that  period  by  scientific  invention,  and  its  practical  application 
to  the  useful  arts,  as  manifested  in  greater  convenience  of  the  domestic 
economies,  in  more  rapid  and  easier  locomotion,  in  earlier  diffusion  of 
information  by  means  of  newspaper  and  telegraph,  and  by  closer  in- 
tercourse between  communities  and  nations,  the  life  of  every  individual 
within  reach  of  civilization  has  been  quickened  and  altered.  New 
necessities  have  been  created,  as  the  new  ministrations  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  human  race  have  gradually  been  unfolded.  It  became 
obvious  that  new  methods  should  be  provided  to  afford  the  ready 
knowledge  sufficient  to  comprehend  the  history,  politics,  commerce,- 
manufactures,  resources,  geography  and  climatic  peculiarities,  not  only 
of  our  own  country,  but  also  of  other  countries,  more  or  less  remote. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  this  form  of  current  knowledge  would  be,  to 
a  great  extent,  superficial ;  but  enough  of  it  was  needed  to  understand 
the  details  of  the  newspaper,  the  daily  companion  of  almost  every 
artisan,  as  well  as  every  merchant  or  professional  man  in  this  country, 
and  fast  becoming  the  same  general  necessity  in  Europe.  These  ends 
and  aims  the  free  library  was  the  first  public  provision  to  meet. 

The  establishment  of  these  libraries  in  England  and  in  the  United 
States  at  once  brought  to  light  the  avidity  with  which  all  classes  were 
prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  privileges  now  first  fully  placed 
within  their  reach.  Every  collection  of  books  for  this  purpose,  being 
presumably  made  upon  the  basis,  so  far  as  could  be  known  beforehand, 
of  furnishing  to  each  community  the  works  most  needed  by  it  in  the 
various  departments  of  learning  and  letters,  soon  gave  evidence  of  suit- 
able appreciation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  through  the  statistics  of  its 
use,  indicated  the  intellectual  and  moral  cravings  of  its  visitors.  That 
those  desires  were  not,  on  the  average,  of  a  more  elevated  character, 
at  first  produced  some  disappointment  in  the  friends  of  education,  but 
when  it  was  remembered  that  people  would  only  read  the  books  which 
they  wished  to  read,  and  not  those  expressly  provided,  as  it  were,  with- 
out their  consent,  for  their  intellectual  advancement,  the  disappoint- 
ment gave  way  to  the  reasonable  expectation  that,  in  forming  a  taste  for 
books,  the  average  understanding  would  raise  itself,  step  by  step,  from 
the  perusal  of  innocuous  works  of  fiction,  or  from  inconsequential  and 
sporadic  reading,  to  a  better  and  higher  and  more  useful  class  of  liter- 
ary productions.  Experience  has  shown  that  this  expectation  has  proved 
measurably  correct.  Though,  throughout  this  country  and  in  England, 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  amount  of  average  circulation  is  made  up  of 
fiction  and  juveniles,  it  is  yet  found  that  the  demand  for  better  books  is 
.steadily  and  regularly  making  progress. 

In  this  view,  one  can  understand  the  objections  that  have  been  made 
to  the  system  of  popular  libraries.  In  the  "  London  Quarterly^Review," 
a  scholar  of  the  day  thus  utters  his  complaint :  k"  The  object  of  a  library 
is  not  so  much  to  make  books  or  readers  of  books,  as  to  make  students. 


CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 

Never  is  any  reat  benefit  produced  by  reading  for  mere  amusement. 
Tin-  tempting  facilities  offered  by  public  libraries,  like  machinery  in 
manufactures,  increases  production  at  the  expense  of  the  strength  of 
the  staple.  The  article  is  not  made  for  wear,  but  for  the  shop- window." 
In  answer  to  this,  it  may  be  said  that  these  objections  do  not  meet  the 
case,  except  upon  a  single  point  of  view.  Whether  desirably  or  not,  you 
cannot  make,  from  natural  and  social  causes,  a  whole  community  of 
scholars.  The  people  must  be  taken  as  they  exist.  In  providing  the 
text-books  for  the  student  and  scholar  alone,  one  only  continues  the 
sort  of  institution  with  which  Europe  is  filled  everywhere,  —  libraries 
little  used,  stored  with  musty  books,  of  no  great  importance  when 
printed,  and  of  less  service  in  this  generation ;  frequented  only  by  the 
few  people  of  the  neighborhood  whose  tastes  are  satisfied,  and  whose 
perceptions  are  filled  by  the  traditions  of  the  past,  rather  than  by  the 
realities  of  the  present.  •  These  collections  entirely  ignore  the  class  of 
readers  for  whom  the  public  libraries  of  this  day  are  gathered,  —  people 
who  need  the  books  of  their  time,  whether  in  science,  art,  or  literature. 
Among  the  works  thus  collected,  will  be  found,  not  only  those  required 
by  the  student  and  general  scholar,  but  also  those  (and  this  is  the  main 
point)  important  to  the  largest  number  of  people.  In  the  use  of  books, 
though  one  might  wish  that  a  higher  motive  could  always  be  uettbtradi 
than  "  reading  for  mere  amusement,"  it  may  also  be  said,  in  mitigation, 
that  one  has  yet  to  learn  of  any  serious  injury  accruing  from  a  settled 
taste  for  reading,  even  from  the  low  motive  ascribed  as  almost  oppro- 
brious. The  enthusiast  who  cries  for  "one  dear  book,"  thumbed  and  dog's- 
eared  ;  cracked  in  the  back,  and  broken  in  the  corners ;  noted  on  the 
fly-leaf,  and  scrawled  on  the  margins ;  sullied  and  scorched,  torn  and 
worn ;  its  leaves  crumbly  with  much  overuse,  and  perhaps  unfriendly 
abuse,  will  not,  I  am  afraid,  find  this  volume  so  readily  on  the  shelves 
of  the  British  Museum,  as  among  the  cheap  and  accessible  stores  of 
some  local  popular  library.  If  the  real  cultivation,  so  much  desired  by 
the  conservative  critic,  is  thus  obtained,  it  will  proceed  more  from  the 
attractive  character  of  the  work,  than  from  the  weight  of  its  contents. 
Fortunate  will  the  reader  be  when  the  solidity  equals  the  fascination. 

But  with  regard  to  the  short-lived  books  of  the  day,  which  form  a 
necessary  part  of  every  library  of  any  extent  or  variety,  there  is  always 
this  consolatory  reflection,  which  may  be  'stated  in  the  words  of  the 
learned  Scaliger :  "  There  is  no  book  so  worthless  that  I  cannot  collect 
something  from  it."  Every  reader  may  not,  however,  have  this  ability, 
or  may  not  bear  in  mind  his  own  power  to  extract  the  -essence,  such,  as 
it  may  be,  of  the  wee'd.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  most  popular  • 
books  are  often  the  most  commonplace,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
people  of  moderate  intellects  "  are  pleased  to  see  their  own  thoughts,  as 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  9 

it  were,  reflected  back  from  the  pages  of  a  book,"  and  are  thus  doubly 
gratified  by  the  delineations  or  truisms  of  the  writer,  and  by  the  direct 
compliment  thus  conveyed  to  their  own  intelligence  and  culture. 

But  it  is  not  of  such  books  or  for  such  readers  that  a  public  library 
should  be  mainly  collected.  The  activity  of  temperament  which  marks 
both  sexes  in  New  England  seeks  expression  and  refreshment  in  the 
writings  of  the  authors  who  appeal  most  strongly  to  their  sympathies 
and  tastes.  The  new  books  marking  the  movement  of  the  time ;  the 
classics  of  the  past  associated  with  the  progress  of  the  human  mind  in 
all  ages  and  countries ;  the  favorite  authors  who  have  assisted  in  the 
formation  of  character,  and  in  the  development  of  the  imagination ;  the 
hand-books  of  fact,  the  multiform  shapes  of  fiction, —  each  and  all  of 
these  may  enter  not  only  into  the  pleasures,  but  also  into  the  improve- 
ment of  a  life,  of  which  the  larger  portion  is  devoted  to  the  pressing 
needs  of  subsistence,  or  to  the  daily  drudgery  of  some  engrossing  occu- 
pation. One  of  the  most  important  and  most  gratifying  results  yet 
attained  from  the  formation  of  our  libraries  is  to  be  seen  in  the  fact  that» 
year  by  year,  it  is  found  that  the  circulation  extends  more  and  more 
among  the  poorer  classes,  who  have  the  fewest  comforts  and  pleasures 
within  their  reach.  Thus  seed  is  sown  which  grows  and  bears  fruit, 
where  the  sun  but  seldom  shines  and  the  cheering  breezes  of  heaven 
most  rarely  blow. 

lu  the  miscellaneous  collection  now  gathered  here  for  the  uses  os 
your  people,  the  City  Government  has  laid  the  basis  of  a  populart 
library.  It  is  not  composed  of  costly  books  of  reference,  of  worsf, 
illustrated  to  express  the  highest  triumphs  of  art,  or  of  the  rare  ke  - 
ures  so  eagerly  sought  by  the  antiquarian  or  the  bibliomaniac ;  but  it 
comprises  substantially  the  volumes  which  experience  has  shown  to  be 
most  attractive  and  necessary  in  the  other  popular  libraries.  Within 
the  scope  of  the  collection  will  be  found  books  for  old  and  young,  and 
for  both  sexes,  —  for  various  tastes  and  occupations.  But,  in  the  rela- 
tive importance  of  the  selections,  works  for  the  young  must  occupy  the 
first  place,  because,  whatever  their  character  and  interest,  they  all  are 
necessarily  educational.  By  this  expression,  one  does  not  mean  that 
they  are  directly  written  for  the  purpose  of  Instruction,  but  whatever 
their  nature  may  be,  as  read  by  the  young,  and  with  the  vivid  atten- 
tion inseparable  from  the  spring-time  of  life,  they  enter  into  its  future 
and  leave  their  mark  for  good  or  evil  upon  the  male  or  female  develop- 
ment, which  is  to  make  the  adult  useful  and  happy  in  his  or  her  day  and 
generation.  This  is 'mainly  the  responsibility  in  the  formation  of  a  free 
library.  It  must  provide  books  suitable  to  the  needs  of  the  community 
which  it  serves,  ft  furnishes  strong  meat  for  the  strong,  and  tender 
support  for  the  feeble.  What  mental  physician  shall  properly  judge 


10  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70: 

how  these  are  to  be  administered  ?  Shall  you  or  will  you  leave  the 
decision  to  the  unformed  character,  the  wayward  susceptibilities,  the 
undefined  longings,  the  impossible  futurities,  the  dormant  tastes,  the 
irrepressible  activity,  no  less  than  the  implicit  trust  of  the  young? 
For  their  especial  use  is  gathered  here  a  carefully  selected  collection  of 
books  expressly  written  for  them;  but  each  book  with  varying  aims, 
dependent  upon  the  point  of  view  of  the  author,  and  the  ends  which 
were  intended  to  be  promoted — whether  of  instructive  narrative, 
exciting  adventure,  or  sensational  extravagance ;  or  it  may  be  that  an 
ideal  picture  of  work  and  its  appropriate  results  in  the  future  may  be 
presented  for  the  information  of  those  who  have  only  known  the  tender 
care  of  home,  without  one  single  experience  of  the  hardships  of  real 
life.  They  may  consist  of  the  confused  depictments  of  fancy,  or  of 
the  moral  teachings  or  of  the  religious  or  sectarian  instruction,  proper 
and  sufficient  for  the  selected  child  over  whose  future  the  book  is  to  act 
either  as  sympathetic  adviser  or  amusing  friend.  These  are  among  the 
conditions  of  reading  for  the  young,  much  advanced  over  the  advantages 
offered  to  our  parents  and  to  our  own  childhood,  and  more  than  suffi- 
cient for  the  needs  of  to-day.  This  brings  one  to  the  practical  point  — 
the  responsibility  of  the  education  of  youth  —  the  supervision  and  elec- 
tion of  that  which  is  deemed  beneficial  for  the  moral  and  intellectual 
training  of  each  child.  So  far  as  reading  is  concerned,  no  less  than  in 
other  important  impulses  of  early  life,  the  responsibility  belongs  to 
parents  and  guardians,  and  not  to  those  who  provide  the  intellectual 
nutriment  which  may  strengthen  and  fortify  one  temperament  while  it 
depresses  or  injures  another,  —  like  the  simples  of  the  physician's  pre- 
scriptions, which  may  build  up  one  physical  system  while  they  destroy 
another.  To  those  who  are  answerable  for  the  care  of  youth  there  are 
few  trusts  more  important  than  the  oversight  and  direction  of  its 
reading. 

These  are  the  dangers  of  the  young  in  its  impetuous  pursuit  of  the 
gratification  of  its  tastes  in  its  favorite  books.  Our  adult  growth  is 
naturally  supposed  to  know  what  it  wants  or  needs.  But  there  are 
wants  which  the  system  of  supply  for  the  branch  libraries  is  not  pro- 
posed or  intended  to  meet.  It  is  not  within  its  scope  to  gather  other 
than  collections  of  popular  books,  —  that  is,  books  intended  for  general 
reading,  and  satisfactory  or  sufficient  for  the  average  reader.  It  should 
contain,  l>r-ide,  the  works  of  reference  needed  by  the  inquirer  upon 
some  special  point  of  interest,  and  the  hand-books  required  by  the  me- 
chanical trades;  indeed,  one  may  say  that  all  is  comprised  in  the 
phrase,  —  the  books  useful  to  the  largest  number  of  people.  The  costly 
productions  which  constitute  the  permanent  value  of  the  Bates  Hall 
Library  must  necessarily  be  excluded  from  the  economy  of  the  branch, 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  11 

so  far  as  public  funds  may  provide.  These  works  have  come  to  the 
parent  institution  from  private  benefaction,  from  the  generous  gifts  of 
Joshua  Bates,  Jonathan  Phillips,  Abbott  Lawrence,  John  P.  Bigelow, 
George  Ticknor,  Theodore  Parker,  the  Bowditch  brothers,  from  the  Old 
South  Church,  and  from  numerous  other  helpers,  whose  names  one  would 
gratefully  mention.  If  you  wish  to  build  up  a  library  which  shall  not 
only  comprise  the  books  important  to  the  great  majority  of  your  popula- 
tion, but  also  to  the  students  of  specialties,  to  writers  and  authors,  to 
your  clergy,  your  lawyers,  your  physicians,  your  architects  and  your 
engineers ;  if  you  wish  to  create  and  foster  a  taste  for  the  arts ;  if  you 
wishto  see  on  the  shelves  of  yowr  library  works  of  such  intrinsic  value 
that  they  are  better  suited  to  remain  within  its  walls  than  to  be  loaned 
for  home  perusal,  — then  those  more  scientific,  costly  and  rare  volumes 
must  be  placed  there  by  the  public  spirit  'of  your  own  citizens.  In 
establishing  this  branch  upon  the  same  principles,  and  upon  the  same 
basis  by  which  the  city  has  erected  the  popular  libraries  in  Boylston 
street  and  East  Boston,  it  has  done  its  whole  duty;  but  above  and  be- 
yond these  suggestions,  other  attractions  may  properly  be  added  to  in- 
crease the  general  interest,  and  to  draw  to  it  classes  of  larger  culture 
and  more  refined  tastes.  If  a  direction  can  be  given  to  this  institution 
by  which  it  may  meet  the  necessities  of  your  people  beyond  the  point 
which  any  general  provision  can  reach,  whether  it  shall  become  the 
handmaid  of  art,  the  promoter  of  science,  the  assistant  of  technical 
skill,  or  the  silent  instructor  of  abstruse  knowledge,  must  depend,  in  a 
large  degree,  upon  the  perception  of  your  own  wants,  and  a  sympa- 
thetic assistance  of  those  of  your  own  body  who  recognize  the  existence 
of  these  needs,  and  are  prepared  to  help  those  whose  hands  are  extended 
for  aid.  Any  intellectual  attraction  that  can  be  added  will  tend  to  make 
the  institution  not  only  a  proper  subject  of  local  pride,  but  of  continuous 
interest  in  the  future.  It  is  an  object  worthy  of  the  highest  ambition  to 
form  such  a  library  as  every  person  in  the  community  capable  of  read- 
ing should  willingly  and  eagerly  seek. 

It  has  been  most  cheering  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library  to 
witness  the  abundant  success  of  its  first  Branch,  and  to  perceive  the 
lively  interest  awakened  in  the  prospective  formation  of  similar  institu- 
tions in  other  districts  of  our  city.  That  you,  my  friends,  the  inhabitants 
of  South  Boston,  will  find  in  your  new  magazine  of  instruction  and  en- 
tertainment a  fulfilment  of  your  expectations ;  that  you  will  care  for  it 
as  a  sacred  trust,  and  that  you  will  develop  it  into  the  form  most  useful 
to  -yourselves  both  for  to-day  and  for  coming  years,  are  points  upon 
which  no  question  can  now  be  entertained.  The  City  of  Boston,  and  the 
Trustees  of  the  Public  Library,  confidently,  unreservedly  and  hopefully 
now  commit  it  to  your  fostering  care. 


12  CITY  DOCUMENT. — No.  70. 

Mr.  GREENOUGH'S  address  was  followed  by  the  singing  to 
music  composed  for  the  occasion   by  JULIUS  EICHBERG,  of 


the  following 


DEDICATION    HYMN. 
Bringing  what  praise  we  can 

Of  all  we  hope  for  here, 
Man's  largest  help  to  111:111, 

Youth's  courage,  trust,  and  cheer,  — 
Yet  swept  on  the  choral  swell, 

Sprung  from  the  grateful  heart, 
Song  can  but  feebly  tell 

What  help,  O  God,  thou  art ! 

Humbly  before  the  scope 

Of  mind's  supremest  power, 
We  plant  this  seed  in  hope, 

Trusting  to  pluck  the  flower,  — 
Yet  swept  on  the  choral  swell, 

Sprung  from  the  grateful  heart, 
Song  can  but  feebly  tell 

What  sower,  God,  thou  art ! 

Labor  we  not  in  vain, 

Dowering  what's  here  enshrined, 
If  the  people's  heart  and  brain, 

Responsive  seek  and  find, — 
But  yet  in  the  choral  swell, 

Sprung  from  the  grateful  heart, 
Song  can  but  feebly  tell 

What  giver,  God,  thou  art ! 


The  HON.  BENJ.  DEAN,  was  then  introduced  by  the  Mayor, 
and  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

MR.  MAYOR,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  SOUTH  BOSTON,  —  When 
the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees —  whose  able  address  you  luu  »• 
just,  listened  to  with  so  much  interest— asked  me-  to  say  something  on 
this  important  event  in  the  history  of  our  section  of  the  city,  I,  of 
course,  cast  about  me  to  see  what  I  should  say. 

In  doing  so,  I  thought  of  the  time  when  I  first  learned  how  the  Pub- 
lic Library,  of  which  this  is  a  Branch,  cauie  to  take  a  sudden  start,  and 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  13 

became,  from  a  small  affair,  almost  by  magic,  one  of  the  foremost  in 
the  country.  It  is  true  that  I  knew,  as  you  knew  at  the  time,  that  our 
Public  Library  was  growing  rapidly.  We  all  knew  when  the  elegant 
building  in  Boylston  Street  was  erected.  But  although  I  knew  all  this 
as  you  did,  and  felt  as  much  interest  in  it  as  most  of  you,  I  did  not  know 
until  quite  recently,  —  or,  if  I  did,  it  made  no  impression  on  my  mind 
—  what  an  interesting  and  romantic  story  was  connected  with  it. 

I  know  it  will  interest  you  as  it  did  me,  and  it  will  teach  us  all  the 
most  fitting  lesson  for  this  occasion. 

There  was  a  poor  Boston  boy,— I  call  him  a  Boston  boy,  because, 
though  born  close  by  in  the  town  of  Weymouth,  he  came  here  early, 
and  formed  here  those  habits  and  tastes  in  his  growth  to  manhood,  to 
which  he  owed  his  wondei'ful  prosperity.  Well,  this  poor  boy  used  to 
go  evenings  to  a  bookstore,  and  was  permitted  to  read  the  books  there, 
and  he  afterwards  became  the  head  of  the  great  English  house  of  Bar- 
ring &  Brothers,  amassing  an  enormous  fortune,  and  exerting  a  great 
influence  even  in  national  affairs.  Now  when  he  had  risen  to  this  great 
eminence  he  didn't  forget,  nor  despise,  the  humble  means  by  which  he 
had  prepared  himself  for  so  successful  a  career.  And  when  he  learned 
that  the  library  was  progressing  but  slowly,  in  order  to  give  other  poor 
boys  the  same  kind  of  privileges  he  had  enjoyed,  he  gave  to  it,  first,  the 
princely  sum  of  $50,000  in  money,  and  then  another  $50,000  in  books. 
But  his  own  simple  way  of  telling  his  story  is  best,  and  I  will  read  it  in 
one  of  his  letters  to  Mr.  Thomas  W.  Ward. 

"  MY  DEAR  WARD  :  —  I  enclose  a  letter  addrssed  to  the  Mayor,  which 
please  to  peruse,  and  then  go  to  Mr.  Everett  and  Mr.  Ticknor,  and  ex- 
plain to  them  my  ideas,  which  are,  that  my  own  experience  as  a  poor 
boy  convinced  me  of  the  great  advantage  of  such  a  library.  Having  no 
money  to  spend  and  no  place  to  go  to,  not  being  able  to  pay  for  a  fire 
or  light  in  my  own  room,  I  could  not  pay  for  books,  and  the  best  way  I 
could  pass  my  evenings  was  to  sit  in  Hastings,  Etheridge,  &  Bliss's 
bookstore,  and  read  what  they  kindly  permitted  me  to ;  and  I  am  confi- 
dent that  had  there  been  good,  warm,  and  well-lighted  rooms  to  which 
we  could  have  resorted,  with  proper  books,  nearly  all  the  youth  of  my 
acquaintance  would  have  spent  their  evenings  there,  to  the  improve- 
ment of  their  minds  and  morals. 

' '  Now  it  strikes  me ,  that  it  will  not  do  to  have  the  rooms  in  the  proposed 
library  much  inferior  to  the  rooms  occupied  for  the  same  object  by  the 
upper  class.  Let  the  virtuous  and  industrious  of  the  middle  and  mechanic 
class  feel  that  there  is  not  so  much  difference  between  them.  Few  but 
worthy  young  men  will  frequent  the  Library  at  first ;  they  may  draw  others 
from  vice  to  tread  in  the  same  paths;  and  with  large,  well-lighted 


14  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 

rooms,  well-warmed  in  winter,  I  feel  sure  the  moral  effect  will  keep  pace 
with  mental  improvement,  and  it  will  be  carrying  out  the  school  system 
of  Boston,  as  it  ought  to  be  earned  out. 

"  My  friends  may  think  differently,  or  that  my  proposal  is  improper,  or 
in  the  wrong  form ;  but  if  you  all  agree  that  it  is  right  and  proper,  the 
Trustees  may  go  to  work  and  provide  such  books  as  they  line!  cheapest 
in  the  United  States,  drawing  on  me  for  the  cost,  sending  me  a  list  of 
such  as  can  best  be  procured  here  or  in  France,  and  I  will  have  them 
purchased  without  delay.  If  this  conclusion  is  come  to,  then  my  letter 
to  the  Mayor  may  be  delivered,-  if  it  is  thought  a  proper  one.  I  rely  on 
you,  Mr.  Everett  and  Mr»  Ticknor,  to  put  the  matter  right,  and  remain, 

"  Ever  truly  yours, 

"  JOSHUA  BATES.  " 

This  letter  requires  no  comment.  I  am  sure  the  poor  boys  of  South 
Boston  who  shall  avail  themselves  of  these  wonderful  opportunities 
brought  to  their  own  houses,  and  who  will  be  sure  to  prosper  if  they  do 
so,  will  remember,  with  gratitude,  the  name  of  Joshua  Bates.  But  in 
addition  to  the  inspiration  of  the  story,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to 
this  language  in  the  letter:  "It  will  be  carrying  out  the  school  system 
of  Boston  as  it  ought  to  be  earned  out." 

I  will  read  extracts  from  a  few  more  of  Mr.  Bates1  letters,  they  are  so 
interesting,  and  I  want  you  to  note,  not  only  his  lofty  philanthropy,  but 
also  how  he  reiterates  the  idea  that  a  library  is  essential  to,  and  a  proper 
part  of,  our  common-school  system. 

He  says,  "  The  building  should  contain  lofty  apartments  to  serve  for 
placing  the  books,  and  also  for  reading-tables,  as  the  holding  of  books 
in  the  hand  damages  them  very  soon.  The  architecture  should  be  such 
that  the  student,  on  entering  it,  will  be  impressed  and  elevated,  and  feel 
a  pride  that  such  a  place  is  free  to  him.  There  should  be  niches  and 
places  for  a  few  marble  statues.  By  these  means  the  reading-rooms 
will  be  made  more  attractive,  and  the  rising  generation  will  be  able  to 
contemplate  familiarly  the  best  works  of  the  celebrated  masters." 
Again:  "As  set  forth  in  your  report,  it  is  chiefly  to  enable  the  young 
men,  who  have  passed  the  schools  in  Boston  or  elsewhere,  to  complete 
their  education.  For  that  reason,  I  suggested  that  the  rooms  should  be 
such  as  would  be  resorted  to  with  pride  and  pleasure,  — warm  and  well 
lighted  in  winter,  —  my  own  experience  convincing  me  that  rooms  so 
organized  will  be  filled."  Again  :  "  Only  see  that  the  building  is  such 
that,  when  filled  with  books,  every  Bostonian  will  feel  proud  of;  besides, 
to  make  it  successful,  it  must  be  worth  seeing."  He  further  says :  "  Mr. 
Twistleton  has  lately  published  an  admirable  pamphlet  on  public 
schools,  which  I  am  distributing  where  I  think  it  can  hare  any  effect, 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  15 

and  I  have  no  doubt  in  time,  that  the  religious  question  must  be  thrown 
aside,  and  the  Massachusetts  system  adopted ;  but  free  libraries  will  be 
wanted  to  Complete  the  system"  In  another  letter  he  says:  "  I  have,  on 
former  occasions,  taken  the  liberty  to  express  the  deep  interest  which  I 
feel  in  the  establishment  of  this  institution,  as  the  completion  of  that  sys- 
tem of  education  at  the  free  public  schools  by  which  Boston  is  so  honorably 
distinguished.'''1 

I  have  quoted  so  largely  from  these  letters,  not  only  because  they 
were  written  by  one  who  was  entitled  to  speak  to  us  with  some  author- 
ity, but  because  they  are  the  views  of  a  man  who,  from  his_great  ex- 
perience and  habit  of  dealing  with  large  affairs,  took  a  broad  view  of 
things ;  and  you  see  he  considered  a  public  library  as  a  part  of  our 
common-school  system.  Now  you  noticed  that  the  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library  told  us,  that  in  these  popular 
branches  we  could  only  have  books  suitable  for  ordinary  circulation ; 
that  the  city  could  not  undertake  to  go  farther,  and  that,  if  we  desired 
scientific  works  and  expensive  books  of  reference,  we  must  ourselves 
supply  them. 

Many  of  you  know  that  there  is  a  fund  left  by  Mr.  Hawes,  a  former 
resident  of  South  Boston,  for  the  benefit  of  public  schools  in  this  part 
of  the  city. 

The  trustees  of  that  fund  are  among  our  most  respected  citizens. 
They  have  full  discretion  over  the  fund,  limited  only  by  the  general 
purpose  for  which  it  was  given ;  and  I  know  from  recent  conversation 
with  some  of  them  that  they  are  earnestly  desirous  of  using  it  in  such 
way  as  will  be  most  for  our  benefit. 

If  they  feel  justified  in  taking  the  same  broad  and  comprehensive  * 
views  which  have  been  expressed  in  the  letters  which  I  have  read,  they 
could  supply  .those  scientific  and  other  works  which  Mr.   Greenough 
informs  us  we  cannot  expect  to  obtain  from  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

And  thus  they  can  do  for  us  what  is  to  be  done  for  the  Roxbury 
Branch,  by  a  fund  which  is  fortunately  to  become  available. 

If  they  do  not  feel  authorized  thus  to  use  the  Hawes  Fund,  they  can 
take  another  course,  which  they  have  already  in  contemplation,  of 
establishing  an  Art  or  Industrial  School ;  and  I  feel  sure  those  public- 
spirited  gentlemen  will  excuse  the  liberty  I  have  taken  on  this  auspi- 
cious occasion  of  alluding  to  the  flattering  prospect  before  us. 

In  establishing  such  school,  they  can,  in  connection  with  this  Branch 
Library  and  in  the  same  building,  have  a  collection  of  statuary  and 
drawings  and  models  which  will  educate  the  taste  and  habits  of  our 
people  as  well  as  give  the  most  useful  technical  instruction. 

Let  us  suppose  this  system  carried  out,  and  what  facilities  the  young 
men  of  South  Boston  will  have !  Let  the  two  institutions  go  on  side  by 


16  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 

side,  and  we  shall  have  in  one  building,  in  contiguous  rooms,  library, 
reading-rooms,  statuary,  paintings,  models,  and,  all  the  apparatus 
required  for  education  in  the  industrial  arts.  And,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  Mr. 
President,  we  have  got  to  do  this  or  something  like  it  all  over  the  Com- 
monwealth. All  over  the  world  technical  education  is  receiving  a  new 
impetus,  and  if  we  intend  that  Massachusetts  shall  maintain  her 
stand,  or  rather  shall  take  the  stand  she  should  in  this  great  contest,  she 
must  be  awake  and  at  work. 

One  more  thought,  and  I  have  done.  I  read  the  other  day  the  follow- 
ing in  one  of  our  newspapers :  — 

"  A  REAL  PHILAMITROPIST. 

"There  is  something  almost  touching  in  the  news  which  has  just 
reached  me  of  the  determination  expressed  by  Sir  Richard  Wallace  (so 
well  known  for  his  princely  charities  in  Paris  both  during  and  since  the 
siege)  to  devote  the  collection  of  paintings  left  him  by  the  late  Lord  Sey- 
mour to  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  the  lower  classes  in  London. 
A  gallery  is  to  be  built  at  Bethnal  Green,  which,  in  spite  of  its  rural 
name,  is  perhaps  the  most  squalid  and  miserable  quarter  in  all  London, 
one  that  has  been  pronounced  by  clergymen  and  district  visitors  as  so 
completely  hopeless  that  although  it  is  inundated  with  religious  tracts, 
overcome  by  open-air  preachers,  and  suffering  a  permanent  threat  of 
the  wrath  to  come,  not  a  step  towards  purification  has  been  accomplished 
as  yet.  '  Let  us  try  a  little  amusement,'  says  Sir  Richard  Wallace, 
'  with  the  refinement  of  art,  and  see  what  that  will  do.'  The  collection 
which  is  to  be  sent  over  is  one  which  has  lain  for  years  concealed  from 
the  public,  useless  and  unemployed,  nailed  up  in  packing-cases  or  lean- 
ing against  the  wall  in  the  Marquis  of  Hertford's  house  in  Paris.  Some 
of  the  greatest  clief-d'ccuvres  of  modern  art  have  been  thus  hidden  from 
fame,  whilst  the  artist  himself,  as  in  the  case  of  the  famous  Parisian 
sculptor,  Clesinger,  indignant  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  reputation,  has  been 
known  to  offer  double  the  purchase  money  in  order  to  have  his  work  re- 
stored to  him,  so  that  his  success  might  be  acknowledged  by  the  world. 
Every  true  philanthropist  is  on  the  tiptoe  of  anxiety  lest  Sir  Richard 
should  be  diverted  from  his  good  intent,  and  consent  to  give  to  the 
National  Gallery  and  other  institutions  at  the  West  End,  already  rich  to 
repletion,  this  collection  of  great  works.  Will  he  suffer  himself  to  be 
cajoled  and  persuaded  into  tin1  belief  that  they  are  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  the  lower  orders,  or  will  he  boldly  declare  his  opinion, 
as  he  did  once  before,  that  there  may  be  as  much  real  appreciation  of 
art  undeveloped  by  reason  of  ignorance,  as  exhibited  to  the  world 
through  education  and  training  ?  " 

There  is  another  man  who  has  discerned  what  Joshua  Bates  so  well 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  17 

knew,  that  mankind  is  to  be  led,  coaxed  by  opportunity  and  the  insensible 
magnetism  of  attractive  surroundings,  into  the  paths  of  virtue  and  edu- 
cation, and  is  not  to  be  driven  by  whips,  and  goads,  and  tracts.  "  Let 
us  try  a  little  amusement  with  the  refinement  of  art,  and  see  what  that 
will  do." 

It  must  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  you,  Mr.  President  [turning  to  Mr. 
Greenough],  to  find  yourself  so  identified  with  this  great  and  good  work, 
—  the  bringing  of  libraries  to  the  homes  of  our  people  all  over  the  city. 

The  tendencies  of  those  having  control  of  libraries  is  to  look  upon  the 
library  as  too  sacred  for  use.  They  pile  up  books,  keep  them  under  lock 
and  key,  and  almost  forbid  their  use  to  ensure  their  safety.  You  meas- 
ure the  library's  value  by  its  use.  You  do  not  tell  us  how  many 
volumes  you  have  lost,  but  how  many  people  use  the  volumes. 

The  present  management  does  not  seek  to  crowd  all  the  books  it  is 
possible  to  collect  into  one  great  building,  placed  as  ornaments  where 
they  are  not  needed,  but  to  scatter  them  among  the  people,  to  send  them 
where  they  will  do  the  greatest  good.  This  is  carrying  out  your  com- 
mon-school system  beyond  the  anticipations  of  even  Joshua  Bates  him- 
self. 

It  is  all  in  the  right  direction,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  so  many  who 
are  connected  with  the  city  government  here  to-night.  Let  us  go  on  as 
we  are  now  going,  and  all  will  be  well. 

At  any  rate,  I  assure  you  that  the  people  of  South  Boston  will  so  sec- 
ond your  efforts  that  you  will  recur  with  pride  and  pleasure  to  the  part 
you  have  taken  in  the  establishment  of  this  Branch  Library. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  REV.  GEORGE  A.  THAYER,  who 
said :  — 

Dr.  Johnson's  famous  recipe  for  educating  a  boy  was  to  turn  him 
loose  into  a  library. 

We  have  good  reason  for  congratulating  this  community  that  it  is  now 
in  our  power  to  carry  out  this  prescription  for  the  large  class  whom  it 
js  important  for  our  highest  well  being  to  have  educated.  And,  indeed, 
who  among  us  are  not  to  be  reckoned  in  that  class  ?  What  the  school 
cannot  do,  this  Library  can  do.  The  school,  for  those  who  are  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  enjoy  its  privileges,  but  introduces  the  child  into  the  way  of 
education.  tlt  gives  him  a  glimpse  of  the  immense  field  of  wisdom. 
Not  only  a  glimpse  —  he  stands,  as  it  were,  on  the  threshold  of  the 
world's  thought,  as  one  might  stand  at  the  entrance  of  some  world's 
fair  or  any  museum  of  treasures,  knowing  there  was  something  excellent 
and  grand  within,  but  capable  of  realizing  its  wonders'  only  by  ranging 
through  the  several  apartments,  and  inspecting  the  various  marvels. 


18  CITY  DOCUMENT. — No.  70. 

In  the  school  one  is  told  that  famous  persons  have  lived,  that  great 
discoveries  have  been  made,  that  great  thoughts  and  institutions  have 
been  wrought  out ;  but  it  is  only  through  the  larger  reading  of  books 
that  great  men,  great  institutions,  and  great  thoughts  become  substantial 
realities. 

And  such  is  the  character  of  our  people  and  of  our  government,  that 
this  finishing  process  of  intelligence  appears  to  me  as  much  a  necessity 
as  is  the  common  school.  There  are,  and  must  be,  large  classes  whose 
early  schooling  is  limited.  There  are  many  whom  poverty  has  stopped 
from  the  high  school  and  the  college,  who  are  still  anxious  to  go  farther, 
and  who  would  be  glad  to  spend  their  leisure  hours  in  self-improvement. 
It  is  from  these  needy  classes  that  we  draw  many  of  our  sturdiest  citi- 
zens, our  ablest  leaders  in  every  department  of  thought  and  activity. 
Thank  Heaven  there  is  no  limit  to  men's  power  and  influence  in  this 
land,  save  that  of  honesty  and  intelligence,  and  there  are  multitudes  who 
have  taken  advantage  of  the  facilities  extended  to  them  on  every  side, 
to  fit  themselves  for  the  'highest  fields  of  usefulness.  But  every  man 
and  woman  has  a  field.  Every  one  is  a  power  for  good  or  ill.  This  is 
a  democracy,  —  every  one  a  sovereign,  and  it  is  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance that  all  should  be  intelligent  sovereigns. 

More  than  ever,  do  we,  to-day,  want  intelligent,  thoughtful  citizens. 
The  great  problems  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  we  are  endeav- 
oring to  solve  in  this  country,  are  becoming  more  complex  as  we  receive 
large  immigrations.  We  cannot  trust  for  their  satisfactory  solution  to 
the  leaders ;  we  must  have  the  minds  of  the  masses,  trained  by  thought, 
capable  of  manly,  independent  judgment.  If  there  hangs  over  any  city 
or  state  of  America  an  ominous  cloud  foreboding  mischief  to  our  insti- 
tutions, its  source  and  nourishment  are  among  the  ignorant  classes. 
And  therefore  do  we  need  to  put  before  every  person  the  free  invitation 
to  know  more,  to  think  more,  to  uplift  and  develop  the  nobler  faculties 
of  the  soul. 

As  I  have  said,  there  are  multitudes  who  only  want  the  opportunities. 
Give  them  the  chance,  and  they  will  gladly  show  their  appreciation. 
Give  them  a  chance,  and  they  will  show  that  within  them  were  precious 
seeds  of  character,  which  might  otherwise  have  been  left  undeveloped. 
Seeing  how  much  we  have  been  blessed  by  the  self-educated  men,  by 
those  who  have  trusted  for  the  cultivation  of  their  powers  to  the  casual 
facility  of  some  stray  book,  none  of  us  can  fail  to  feel  deeply  the  im- 
portance, the  sacred  duty,  of  making  the  avenues  of  knowledge  as  free 
as  the  access  to  water. 

Experience  shows  that  there  is  no  lack  of  readers  in  our  libraries. 
The  American  people  are  peculiarly  a  reading  people.  Nowhere  else 
in  the  world,  I  may  safely  say,  do  books  and  papers  have  so  wide  a  dis- 


SOUTH  BOSLON  BRANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  19 

semination.  Even  the  foreign  authors  obtain  their  greatest  popularity 
with  us.  Dickens  has  a  larger  audience  in  America  than  in  England. 
I  know  that  some  of  the  most  thoughtful  works  of  the  distinguished  men 
of  the  old  world  have  ^obtained  their  strongest  reputation  with  us,  and 
have  reaped  their  greatest  pecuniary  profit  from  our  purchases. 

Look  at  the  magazines,  the  daily  and  weekly  papers,  and  the  circu- 
lating books  at  every  street  corner !  Grant  that  much  of  this  reading 
is  almost  worse  than  none.  Grant  that  too  many  people  care  only  to 
stimulate  a  false  imagination  ;  still  there  is  the  disposition  which  awaits 
to  be  controlled. 

Mr.  Beecher,  when  asked  at  Yale,  the  other  day,  about  the  propriety 
of  making  people  laugh  in  church,  said,  in  substance,  "  When  I  can  move 
an  audience  to  a  right  sort  of  laughter,  I  ask  no  man  for  the  next  move. 
I  can  soon  have  them  in  the  higher  moods."  So  it  is  with  the  reading 
of  inferior  literature ;  there  is  the  taste  for  something.  We  have  got 
hold  of  people  with  the  reading  desire,  and  the  possibility  is  easier  of 
turning  that  disposition  into  better  channels. 

The  Trustees  of  this  Library  have  worldly  wisdom.  They  do  not  ex- 
pect to  accomplish  miracles ,  They  do  not  expect  to  make  those  who 
resort  here  take  only  the  higher  class  of  literature.  They  do  mean  that 
the  poorest  books  they  offer  shall  be  far  above  the  rubbish  that  people 
resort  to,  because  they  know  of  nothing  else,  or  can  get  nothing  else. 
The  books  most  used  here  will  be  the  novels  and  the  juvenile  literature. 
But  from  that  class  all  absolutely  pernicious  and  vile  stuff  is  to  be 
excluded  so  far  as  is  within  the  power  of  the  collectors.  The  habit  of 
reading  something  is  to  be  cultivated,  and  in  due  time  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  boys  and  girls  may  come  to  desire  something  more  profitable 
than  Mayne  Reid  and  Oliver  Optic ;  that  they  shall  be  tempted  to  go 
among  the  histories,  the  poems,  and  the  sciences. 

This  Library  is  to  be  au.  auxiliary  of  virtue';  a  co-worker  with  the 
churches  and  the  reform  societies.  I  know  of  no  more  efficacious  way 
of  stimulating  virtuous  thought  in  people  than  by  putting  them  in  vir- 
tuous company ;  and  that  is  nowhere  more  surely  found  than  in  a  library 
of  good  books,  which  are  the  expression  of  the  ripe  and  pure  thought  of 
the  best  men  and  women  who  have  lived.  It  is  a  somewhat  common 
reflection,  and  yet  always  worth  recalling,  that  from  yonder  shelves 
speak  a  multitude  of  sweet  and  solemn  voices  of  all  the  centuries.  How 
eagerly  we  rush  to  see  the  great  authors  who  >  visit  us  !  What  crowds 
followed  Dickens  and  Thackeray !  What  honor  was  it  to  speak  with 
Scott  and  Irving,  to  have  some  relic  of  Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  or  any 
of  the  long  list  who  have  been  the  inspiration  of  the  race !  And  yet, 
in  the  contact  with  their  books,  we  arc  in  the  presence  of  the  very  best 
part  of  them,  the  quintessence  of  their  souls.  Many  of  them  put  their 


20  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 

complete  lives  into  their  works,  iand  as  we  tread  a  library  their 
spirits  are  ready  for  immediate  communion  with  us.  Old  Greeks, 
Romans  and  Egyptians  are  with  us;  our  early  English  ancestors 
converse  with  us;  the  poets,  the  sweet  singers  who  make  the  hymns 
on  which  our  Sunday  devotion  rises,  and  who  compose  the  songs  that 
inspirit  the  nations,  like  drum-beats,  in  their  hours  of  peril,  —  these, 
•  and  their  like,  arc  all  at  hand,  ready  to  make  our  acquaintance ;  and  if 
we  will  but  know  them  our  estimate  of  life  is  immeasurably  raised. 
Emerson  has  said  that  men's  faith  in  immortality  depends  upon  the 
company  they  keep.  Go  with  mean  people,  and  life  seems  mean. 
Read  some  of  the  masters  of  thought,  and  the  world  becomes  peopled 
with  men  of  positive  quality,  with  heroes  and  demi-gods.  Let  us  keep 
the  company  of  the  saints  and  scholars  in  our  Library,  and  learn  to  appre- 
.  ciate  and  enjoy  them,  and  life  will  be  grander  and  more  beneficent  than 
it  could  be  in  the  common  ruts  of  daily  duty. 

But  there  is  a  more  practical  consideration  than  this.  Good  books  fur- 
nish materials  for  feeding  minds,  and  driving  out  mischievous  thoughts. 
A  large  part  of  the  crime  that  infests  our  community  springs  out 
of  brains  that  have  no  profitable  resources.  See  what  an  utter  absence 
of  means  of  enjoyment  a  large  proportion  of  homes  display.  Mere 
feeding  and  sleeping  places  they  are,  and  not  of  the  most  attractive  sort, 
either;  and  their  occupants  have  no  resort  for  leisure,  except  at  the  street 
corner  and  the  grog  shop,  where  they  are  ripe  for  the  evil  that  keeps 
our  police  so  busy.  kWe  all  kknow  who  patronize  our  groggeries,  who 
make  our  streets  unsafe,  who  fill  our  jails.  They  are  the  people  whose 
heads  are  empty,  and  who,  instead,  fill  their  stomachs,  and  get  hands 
and  feet  into  trouble. 

There  is  no  sure  remedy  for  crime  save  the  putting  something  better 
into  the  heads.  Dr.  Holmes  has  wittily  said  that  nature  leaves  no 
vacuums,  but  has  some  patent  live  time-keeper  for  even  every  crack 
and  joint  of  a  tavern  bedstead.  There  are  no  vacuums  in  people's  minds ; 
either  good  is  there,  or  evil. 

In  farming.Jin  the  country,  I  used  to  be  annoyed  by  the  sorrel,  which, 
like  the  evil  tendencies  of  which  I  am  speaking,  has  an  antipathy 
against  allowing  anything  useful  to  grow.  Hoeing  it  up  didn't  do  any 
good ;  there  were  little  rootlets  left  which  would  bring  forth  again  a 
double  harvest.  The  soil  must  be  cultivated  by  a  free  use  of  manure, 
giving  the  good  sturdy  seeds  a  chance  to  start,  and  then  the  sorrel 
would  disappear. 

Our  books  are  the  fertilizers,  which,  in  connection  with  other  moral 
persuasives  are  to  do  the  work  which  no  laws  or  strong  arm  of  police 
can  ever  effect.  Why,  the  mere  ability  to  read  a  daily  newspaper  is 
often  a  man's  salvation  against  criminal  thoughts.  If  the  newspapers 
deal  too  largely  in  accounts  of  criminal  proceedings,  they  also  deal  with 


SOUTH  BOSTON  BEANCH,  PUBLIC  LIBRARY.  21 

politics,  with  the  great  industrial  questions,  and  with  the  questions  of 
religion  and  reform ;  and  for  every  acquaintance  a  man  makes  with  a 
more  dignified  and  important  subject  than  is  found  in  the  lower  routine 
of  life,  he  may  be  able  to  remove  one  evil  companion.  If  too  poor  to 
travel,  he  may,  with  the  help  of  history,  biography,  and  romance,  range 
through  the  world,  and  obtain  something  of  that  culture  and  breadth  of 
view  which  intelligent  travel  [always  imparts.  He  sees  through  the 
eyes,  and  with  the  experience  of  keen  observers  and  profound  scholars, 
and  therefore  may  derive  more  profit  in  this  way  than  do  scores  who 
travel  to  Europe  without  the  faculties  of  right  discrimination  and  intel- 
ligent observation. 

I  welcome  with  great  joy  all  such  adjuncts  to  education  and  reform  as 
this  institution.  I  hope  that  we  who  understand  its  utility  will  show  by 
our  patronage  that  it  is  appreciated.  Practically,  the  whole  City  Library 
is  in  our  reach,  and  the  special  student,  as  well  as  the  general  reader, 
is  thus  enabled  to  satisfy  every  literary  need. 

I  am  happy,  also,  to  endorse  the  statement  of  Mr.  Dean  with  regard 
to  the  intentions  o'f  the  Hawes  trustees,  and  to  say  that  it  seems  entirely 
probable  that,  at  no  distant  time,  another  institution  of  education,  —  m 
the  art  direction,  —  will  be  established  among  us,  of  which  this  Library 
will  be  a  valuable  auxiliary. 

After  further  singing  by  the  choir,  the  Mayor  introduced 
Colonel  ALBERT  J.  WEIGHT,  who  in  an  address  of  a  few 
minutes'  length,  mingled  sound  sense^with  much  good  humor, 
and  closed  by  pledging  the  continued  interest  of  the  citizens 
of  South  Boston  in  the  institution  which  had  been  committed 
to  their  fostering  care. 

He  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  L.  H.  ANGIER,  who  dwelt 
upon  the  salutary  influence  of  such  institutions  upon  the  man- 
ners and  morals  of  youth.  He  closed  with  inviting  the  citi- 
zens of  South  Boston  to  join  him  in  making  a  monthly  contri- 
bution for  one  half  year  to  the  stores  of  the  library. 

Before  separating,  the  entire  assemblage  joined  in  singing 
"  Old  Hundred." 


22  CITY  DOCUMENT.  —  No.  70. 


A  P  P.E  N  D I X  . 


JOHN  HAWES,  Esq.,  of  South  Boston,  died  in  1829,  and  by  his  will, 
made  in  1813,  he  provided  that  the  trustees  under  it  should  devote  of 
the  income  from  certain  pieces  of  real  estate  situated  in  South  Boston, 
and  on  the  Neck,  near  the  Roxbury  line,  "  one  half  or  moiety  .  .  . 
to  establishing  and  supporting  public  schools  in  said  South  Boston,  in 
such  way  and  manner,  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  said  trustees,  their  said 
associates  and  successors,  shall  most  tend  to  the  benefit  and  advantage 
of  the  inhabitants  of  said  South  Boston."  Under  this  authority  the 
trustees  have,  in  occasional  winters,  opened  and  maintained  evening 
schools  for  males ;  and  for  the  last  two  winters  an  evening  school  for 
women  and  girls,  their  wants  not  being  provided  for  by  the  city.  The 
annual  income  at  present  available  for  the  purposes  of  the  trustees  is 
between  two  and  three  thousand  dollars. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Form  L9-75m-7,'61  (Cl437s4)444 


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